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Golden Tate dropped six passes last year, according to Pro Football Focus, which was one more than he had in his first four NFL seasons combined.

But while Tate's drops may have ticked up in his first year with the Detroit Lions, when he was targeted a career-high 145 times, the 26-year-old receiver still is considered one of the most sure-handed pass catchers in the game.

Tate said he's always aware of his drop stats, even when he tries not to be.

"The social media nowadays, someone's going to let you know," Tate said. "Someone's going to tweet at you or give you a shoutout for the good or the bad."

He credits a combination of good genes -- his father, Golden Tate Jr., played wide receiver at Tennessee State -- and his interest in a wide range of sports growing up for the soft hands that have made him a trusted receiver.

"My dad, he used to drive trucks in the city and so he'd come home, and the best day for me would just be outside playing football, baseball, basketball, hide-and-go-seek, hockey, whatever it was," Tate said. "And he'd come home in his steel-toed shoes and he'd punt the ball up as high as he could with steel-toes, so it went pretty high and far. I just used to play a lot, and I had a bunch of friends that we would play invisible football sometimes. I don't know why. Invisible football, you just have the ball, get tackled and keep going. Those are the days I remember."

Tate led the Lions with 99 catches for 1,331 yards last year, when Calvin Johnson missed three games and was limited in two others by ankle sprains.

Johnson is healthy now, and Tate said that should make for an improved offense this fall.

"As a whole, we look better, we look more complete, and that's exciting to be a part of," Tate said. "I know we all cannot wait to get in camp and get this preseason started and to get going. We're expecting big things out of ourselves and we don't want to let this city down."

As for his own numbers, Tate said he expects to take another step forward statistically this year. As improbable as that seems, Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky said, with Tate's "mental makeup," not to rule anything out.

"He's got very strong will," Orlovsky said. "If you took Golden out to a high school around here and had him run routes, you'd be like, 'That guy caught 100 passes in the NFL?' But you get him into a competitive situation, and he just has this ability to see the ball. He's got great body control, but his competitive mind-set, I think that allows him to go after a ball confidently, 'cause he's so competitive. He's not going after a ball in a shy way. He's going after to attack it, that's my ball. He thinks it's his ball every play."